you can check the value of data of "Spin Retry Count" with each application. most probably all application report the same vale as they read it from hdd. then more accurate means what value each application considers as threshold to report. btw , i think "Spin Retry Count" increases if enough power is not supplied to the hdd. may be the power cable is loose.
All applications are showing same value of '0' under
data but only under HD Tune Pro its showing as threshold reached. With other applications they are telling that value is OK... I think the problem raised since I connected it to my Vantec HDD Dock & it refused to recognise it. After 3-4 tries the HDD was recognised but not mounted/accessible. Its an old dock supporting upto SATA II & maybe it was not able to supply the power fully. With those retries & unsuccessful mounts it might have put those readings in the SMART data.. All other HDD"s are recognised properly... 7200.12 WD Green (SATA II & III)
ST2000DM001 7200.14
Tested with
Ontrack Easy Recovery again & it passed this time also...
Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional - DriveTests
Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Kroll Ontrack Inc.
Report Created 9/15/2012 @ 4:26 PM
Test Selected: Full Diagnostic Test
Running Full Diagnostic Test...
Testing drive ST2000DM 001-1CH164...
Test Results: Model: ST2000DM 001-1CH164
Capacity: 1863.02 GB
Full Diagnostic Test: Passed.
Recommendations:
Full Diagnostic Test for drive ST2000DM 001-1CH164 passed, no physical drive problems have been found. Run the Partition Tests tool, from the Disk Diagnostics category, on any partitions with data loss, to verify on-disk structures. If you ARE experiencing a data loss situation, you should run the applicable tools in the Data Recovery category to recover lost data. Also, professional services are available by contacting Technical Support or Ontrack Data Recovery Services.
- - - Updated - - -
So I ran a few more extensive tests on the said HDD..
- Ontrack Easy Recovery - Extended SMART Test - Passed
- HD Sentinel - Short Self Test - Passed
- HD Sentinel - Extended Self Test - Passed
- HD Sentinel - Conveyance Test - Passed
**Final Thoughts**
There is nothing wrong with the HDD. The
Spin Retry Count value attributes to failure in spin-up & retries that the HDD took to re-initialize again.. It is a
variable value which can be seen in two conditions..
- When there is inadequate power supplied to the HDD so that the drive fails to initialize/spin-up.. mostly this happens when there is a bad power supply
- When there is some inherent problem with the drives servo so that it fails to spin up even if adequate power is supplied to the HDD.
Now in my case the problem was tied to my Vantec HDD dock which I used to connect the HDD to USB port then eSATA as well. The dock has problem supplying enough power to this specific HDD. (Don't really know the reason why). But the eSATA connection failure must have written the SMART values on the HDD's ROM. This error was reported by HD Tune as drive failure.
BUT
Spin Retry Count value is
variable & if the problem is due to inadequate power supply then when this is checked (proper power provided later) the attribute
improves automatically. In my case it went to 96 (below threshold - 97, hence drive failure reported) & then recovered to 100 (normal) when HDD connected to internal ports + PSU molex...
Every software except HD Tune was able to acknowledge this while the problem with HD Tune is that it sticks to the worst value for this specific attribute (Spin Retry Count) & keeps telling that the HDD would fail. It simply ignores the improved value for the Spin Retry Count.
HDD can only fail if the Spin Retry Count does not improve & remain below the threshold even if proper power is supplied. In that case it specifically means physical problem with the HDD servo or power circuit, that it is not working correctly to spin-up the drive..
